The Forest Spiral of Darmstadt

1998-2000

The Bauverein Darmstadt (Darmstadt Building Association) commissioned Hundertwasser to design a housing complex with 105 residential units in the Bürgerpark area of Darmstadt. Hundertwasser's idea was to plan the building so that it rose up on the site in the form of an afforested spiral.

The building begins to rise on the southwestern corner of the site in a constantly climbing meadow to a final height of nine stories on the southeastern corner of the site, where a twelve-story tower rises up 41 metres providing a unique accent. The facades were designed by Hundertwasser as an allegory of the earth's strata, of the sediment that has been deposited over millions of years.